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Season Records: (W-L)

30-20

(Away: 14-13)

35-14

(Home: 20-4)

Upcoming Games:

Apr 01

Apr 03

Apr 04

Apr 06

Apr 07

at

vs

at

vs

vs

7:00 pm

7:00 pm

7:00 pm

7:00 pm

7:00 pm

Projected Starting Lineup:

C

PF

SF

SG

PG

HIBBERT

WEST

GRANGER

GEORGE

COLLISON

Projected Starting Lineup:

C

PF

SF

SG

PG

BLAIR

DUNCAN

LEONARD

GREEN

PARKER

PacersKyrylo Fesenko, getting into wacky hijinks in Point Place, WI, out

SpursOddly no one...yet...

Minimally Relevant Video:

Semi-Relevant Video:

If there happens to be video evidence of the Pacers everbeating the Spurs, I can't find it. So instead you get this...

Eight Points, Nine Seconds Preview Review:

Tim Donahue: Breaking Down a Breakdown

Jonathan Auping identified an Jordan Crawford And-One as summingup the lack of effort the Pacers put forth last night. No doubt, thatplay was ugly.

But in looking at that play, I found the play before it to be moretroubling, particularly when you consider what Jared Wade had tosay about lack of execution in his piece on the Pacers’s search foran identity the other day.

I broke down the two plays here, narrating my thoughts, as well asthrowing in some audio I had picked up from Frank Vogel and DavidWest. There’s only so much you can get from this kind of navel-gazing, but it’s occasionally worthwhile to thoroughly dissect a playlike this.

The Indiana Pacers will be in town this weekend, reuniting George Hill withthe organization that drafted and nurtured his game through the first threeyears of his NBA career.

Back in the summer, when the trade was made, a home game against theIndiana Pacers would have been billed as “George Hill’s much anticipatedreturn,” however, the “much anticipated” part becomes more muted witheach sign of progress from Spurs rookie Kawhi Leonard.

Instead, Hill returns an ex-flame whom we recall fondly; though one thatrarely crosses our mind at all these days. That’s not so much a slight atHill as it is a testament to how perfect a marriage the San Antonio Spursand Kawhi Leonard have been.

It was only two years ago that national pundit and local fans were pushingthe Spurs to trade Tony Parker in favor of the cheaper, younger, and upand coming George Hill. But moving Parker then, even for a promisingdefensive big man, would have opened up a whole new set of problemsSan Antonio would have had to address. And with another season withalmost no statistical growth relative to his career numbers, coming offthe end of his rookie season, the cheaper and up and coming labels forGeorge Hill will have diminished some.

His time with the Spurs was always going to be limited so long as theyemployed Parker and Manu Ginobili. Hill was the Spurs fourth best playerplaying the same position as two of its best three players, and while hewas a nice luxury, his skill set overlapped with theirs and ultimatelyprovided nothing unique to the Spurs, just varying degrees of betterand worse.

The Same, But Better

To accommodate Hill, the Spurs resorted to three guard sets, which hurtthem against opponents with larger wings, as we saw in Memphis. Thefurther Hill moved away from defending his natural point guard position,the less valuable his defensive prowess was. And again, defensive pointguards are a nice luxury but can be a tad overrated in terms of impact.

The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Naptown_Seth For This Useful Post:

Re: 3/31/2012 Game Thread #51: Pacers Vs. Spurs

Man, was I bummed when we gave up the chance to have Leonard. I like Hill, and I think he's done a good job, but guys like Kawahi are a rare breed in this league. He really defends well, rebounds at a high rate, and has terrific bball iq for a rookie.

Re: 3/31/2012 Game Thread #51: Pacers Vs. Spurs

I'll be at the game tonight supporting the blue and gold. Will be in the club level wearing an old Reggie throwback. Spurs are a REAL tough team at home with a 20-4 record, not gonna be easy to pull this one out. They have also won 9 out of their last 10.
We are definitely going to need to play with more intensity than we have the past 2 games or its gonna be lights out before we know it. That being said, this team usually comes out fired up against the NBA's elite so here's to hoping we at least give SA our best shot.